The School Collection: Children's Literature at the Education and Social Science Library
The School Collection: Children's Literature at the Education & Social Science Library

Challenged Children's Books

The titles on this list were taken from two sources, a list from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the American Library Association’s (ALA) list of 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000. Titles were divided into three reading levels: picture books, children’s books (including early readers & chapter books), and young adult books. Books were grouped into a particular level based on their NoveList classification. In those few cases where books did not appear in NoveList, level was determined by checking Amazon. Likewise, most synopses were taken from NoveList or, when unavailable, the notes field of OCLC WorldCat records.

For more information on censorship, a longer list of books that have been challenged, and rationales in defense of challenged books, check NCTE’s Censorship Resources or their Anti-Censorship Center.

NoveList also has information about why particular books have been challenged. Go to the article and list search page and then search banned books. The article “Banned Books: Celebrating the Freedom to Read” includes a list of challenged books as well as a description of the type of challenge.

ALA’s site has information on dealing with and reporting a challenge as well as a link to statistical graphs of known challenges divided by initiator, institution, type of challenge, and year. ALA's Freedom to Read Foundation site may also be useful.

For more information, check the following print sources:

Picture Books

Title Author
The Amazing Bone William Steig

On her way home from school, Pearl finds an unusual bone that has unexpected powers.

Crow Boy Taro Yashima

Chibi's classmates come to appreciate his special knowledge and talent.

Daddy's Roommate Michael Willhoite

A young boy discusses his divorced father's new living situation, in which the father and his gay roommate share eating, doing chores, playing, loving, and living.

Guess What? Mem Fox

Through a series of questions to which the reader must answer yes or no, the personality and occupation of a lady called Daisy O'Grady are revealed.

Halloween ABC Eve Merriam

A poem for each letter of the alphabet introduces a different, spooky aspect of Halloween.

Heather Has Two Mommies Leslea Newman

When Heather goes to playgroup, at first she feels bad because she has two mothers and no father, but then she learns that there are lots of different kinds of families and the most important thing is that all the people love each other.

In the Night Kitchen Maurice Sendak

A little boy's dream-fantasy in which he helps three fat bakers get milk for their cake batter.

Little Black Sambo Helen Bannerman

A little boy in India loses his fine new clothes to the tigers, but while they dispute who is the grandest tiger in the jungle he takes his fine clothes back again.

Mommy Laid an Egg Babette Cole

Two children explain to their parents, using their own drawings, where babies come from.

Strega Nona Tomie dePaola

When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

The Stupids H. Allard & J. Marshall

The Stupids are a nice, typical, suburban American family except for one thing. None of them has the sense God gave a lemon. When Stanley Stupid discovers that someone has swiped the Stupid family garbage right off their curb, he decides to take matters into his own bumbling hands and catch the evil litter looter himself.

Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak

A naughty little boy, sent to bed without his supper, sails to the land of the wild things where he becomes their king.

Where's Waldo Martin Hanford

The reader follows Waldo as he hikes around the world and must try to find him in the illustrations of some of the crowded places he visits.

Chapter Books

Title Author
Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain

The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a 19th-century Mississippi River town as he plays hooky on an island, witnesses a crime, hunts for pirate's treasure, and becomes lost in a cave.

Alice in Lace Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

While planning a wedding as part of an assignment for her eighth-grade health class, Alice thinks about her father's and older brother's love lives and learns that you cannot prepare for all of life's decisions.

All But Alice Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Seventh grader Alice decides that the only way to stave off personal and social disasters is to be part of the crowd, especially the "in" crowd, no matter how boring and, potentially, difficult.

Among the Hidden Margaret Peterson Haddix

A government decree allows each family only two children. For Luke, a third child, this has meant a lifetime of hiding. But could a stray glimpse of a child hiding in the house across the way lead to freedom?

Among the Imposters Margaret Peterson Haddix

In a future where the law limits a family to only two children, third-born Luke has been in hiding for the entire twelve years of his life, until he enters boarding school under an assumed name and is forced to face his fears.

Anastasia at Your Service Lois Lowry

Twelve-year-old Anastasia has a series of disastrous experiences when, expecting to get a job as a lady's companion, she is hired instead to be a maid.

Anastasia Krupnik Lois Lowry

Anastasia's 10th year has some good things like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother and some bad things like finding out about an impending baby brother.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume

Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, an eleven-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

Austere Academy Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events,#5) As their outrageous misfortune continues, the Baudelaire orphans are shipped off to a miserable boarding school, where they befriend the two Quagmire triplets and find that they have been followed by the dreaded Count Olaf.

Bad, Badder, Baddest Cynthia Voight

When sixth graders Mikey and Margalo devise a plan to prevent Mikey's parents from getting a divorce, the two friends find their scheme foiled by a new girl at school.

The Bad Beginning Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events,#1) After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple Karen Cushman

In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.

Because of Winn Dixie Katie DiCamillo

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

Belle Prater's Boy Ruth White

Cousins living in a Virginia coal town have both experienced the loss of someone dear to them. Through the stories they tell each other and the adventures they share, they learn to look beyond grief and imagine better lives for themselves.

Best Girl D.B. Smith

As she struggles to cope with a difficult mother and finding her place in the world, young Nealy Compton finds solace in the relative solitude and safety beneath her neighbor's porch.

Blood Red Ochre Kevin Major

Living in Newfoundland, fifteen-year-old David meets a mysterious new girl named Nancy and makes a startling discovery while doing research for a school project on the Beothuck Indians.

Bloomability Sharon Creech

When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers her world expanding.

Blubber Judy Blume

Jill goes along with the rest of the fifth-grade class in tormenting a classmate and then finds out what it's like when she, too, becomes a target.

The Boy Who Lost His Face Louis Sachar

David receives a curse from an elderly woman he has helped his schoolmates attack, and he learns to regret his weakness in pandering to others for the sake of popularity before new friends and a very nice girl help him to be a stronger, more assertive person.

Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson

Ten-year-old Jesse Aarons, who has lived all his life on a farm in Virginia, becomes friends with Leslie Burke, a "city girl" who has moved into a farmhouse down the road and opens doors to culture and imaginative play. But then tragedy strikes.

Call it Courage Armem Spery

The Chief's son, Mafutu, sets out on a voyage of discovery with his faithful dog, Uri, and finds his courage after being driven out of his village for showing fear.

The Cay Theodore Taylor

When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, a teenage white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old Black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion.

Changes in Latitude Will Hobbs

A family trip to Mexico changes a cocky sixteen-year-old boys attitudes as he becomes exposed to his brother's consuming interest in saving endangered species, to his parents' problems, and to his own selfishness.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl

A poor boy wins a tour of a chocolate factory and a supply of chocolate.

Charlotte's Web E.B. White

The story of Wilbur, the pig, smallest of the litter, who is raised by the farmer's daughter, and who finds a friend in Charlotte, the spider.

Christmas Rat Avi

Alone in his apartment during Christmas vacation, eleven-year-old Eric finds himself caught in a battle between a strange exterminator and the rat he wants to kill.

Class Trip Bebe Faas Rice

Angie and her new friends in the "in-crowd" take a canoe trip to the isolated Shadow Island, and when a storm destroys their canoes, the group discovers they're helplessly trapped in the wilderness with a murderer in their midst.

Corner of the Universe Ann M. Martin

The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town.

Cracker Jackson Betsy Byars

After attempting to save his ex-babysitter from wife abuse, Cracker Jackson gains an adult insight into the sadness of failed heroics.

Crazy Lady Leslie Conly

As he tries to come to terms with his mother's death, Vernon finds solace in his growing relationship with the neighborhood outcasts, an alcoholic and her developmentally disabled son.

Crispin: Cross of Lead Avi

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat : Superstitions and Other Beliefs Alvin Schwartz

Explains superstitions about such topics as love and marriage, money, ailments, travel, the weather, and death.

Curses, Hexes, and Spells Daniel Cohen

Recounts curses on families, creatures, places, wanderers, and ghosts. Also describes amulets and talismans which provide protection.

Eats: Poems Arnold Adoff

Poems that reflect on the poet's love of food and eating

Eli's Songs Monte Killingsworth

Shipped off to relatives in Oregon while his father is touring with his rock band, twelve-year-old Eli comes to love the magnificent trees of a nearby old growth forest and tries to prevent their imminent destruction by clear-cutting loggers.

Ersatz Elevator Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events,#6)The woeful saga of the Baudelaire orphans continues as evil Count Olaf discovers their whereabouts at Esme Squalor's seventy-one bedroom penthouse and concocts a new plan for stealing their family fortune.

Frindle Andrew Clements

When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E.L. Konigsburg

Claudia and her brother run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she sees a statue so beautiful, she must identify its sculptor. To find out, she must visit the statue's former owner, the elderly Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Gathering Blue Lois Lowry

Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

George's Marvelous Medicine Roald Dahl

George decides that his grumpy, selfish old grandmother must be a witch and concocts some marvelous medicine to take care of her.

The Girls Amy Goldman Koss

Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong, manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, and the hurt and self-doubt that it causes them.

The Giver Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Good Night, Maman Norma Fox Mazer

After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karin Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New York.

Goosebumps (series) R.L.Stine

Scary stories with mild gore.

Granny the Pag Nina Bawden

Originally abandoned by her actor parents who later attempt to gain custody, Cat wages a spirited campaign to decide her own fate and remain with her grandmother.

The Great Gilly Hopkins Kathernine Paterson

An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

Halsey's Pride Lynn Hall

Thirteen-year-old March, an epileptic, comes to live with her dog breeder father and through her growing attachment to her father's prize dog, Pride, learns a great deal about love, truth, courage and how to cope with adverse fate.

Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh

Eleven-year-old Harriet, who wants to be a writer, writes down everything she sees, but alienates her friends in the process.

Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling

Not your average school,the Hogswart School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, is where Harry Potter finds himself in and out of trouble with his friends as well as in and out of danger from a darker powers.

The Headless Cupid Zilpha K. Snyder

Life is never quite the same again for eleven-year-old David after the arrival of his new stepsister, a student of witchcraft and the occult.

The Heart of the City Ron Koertge

After she and her parents move to an ethnically mixed inner city neighborhood, ten-year-old Joy and her new friend Neesha decide to do something to keep drug dealers off their block.

Here's to You, Rachel Robinson Judy Blume

Expelled from boarding school, Charles' presence at home proves disruptive, especially for sister Rachel, a gifted seventh-grader trying to balance friendships and school activities.

Holes Louis Sachar

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Homeless Bird Gloria Whelan

Kali worries for her future when she discovers that the husband her parents have arranged for her to marry is sickly.

Hostile Hospital Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, #8) On the run after being falsely accused of murder, the three Baudelaire orphans find themselves in the Heimlich Hospital, with the evil Count Olaf in close pursuit.

How to Eat Fried Worms Thomas Rockwell

Two boys set out to prove that worms can make a delicious meal.

It's Not Easy Being Bad Cynthia Voigt

Two unpopular girls try to break into the seventh grade clique system, even though they're not really sure they want to be popular at all.

It's Perfectly Normal: a Book about Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health Robie Harris

In a starred review, PW said, "this intelligent, amiable and carefully researched book... frankly explains the physical, psychological, emotional and social changes that occur during puberty." Emberley's watercolor and pencil art "reinforces [the] message that bodies come in all sizes, shapes and colors-and that each variation is 'perfectly normal.' " Ages 10-14.

Jake and Honeybunch Go to Heaven Margot Zema

The exuberance of a man and his mule newly arrived in heaven causes so much furor that God gives them one last chance before He throws them out.

James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl

A contemporary fairy tale starring the heroic little James, a group of overgrown garden insects who become his friends, and a peach the size of a house.

Joey Pigza Loses Control Jack Gantos

Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired, goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship.

The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins Walter Dean Myers

A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.

Journey to Topaz Yoshiko Uchida

After the Pearl Harbor attack, an eleven-year-old Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to an aliens camp in Utah.

Jump Ship to Freedom James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

In 1787, a fourteen-year-old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his mother, escapes from his dishonest master and tries to find help in cashing the soldier's notes received by his father for fighting in the Revolution.

Junebug Alice Mead

An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.

Kill the Teacher's Pet Joseph Locke

Convinced that Mr. Trancas, the new teacher, is a psychopath, Lenny Cochran, a sixteen-year-old science fiction and horror fanatic, tries in vain to convince others of this fact--until Lenny disappears.

King of the Wind Marguerite Henry

Traces the progression of Sham, a Moroccan horse, from its days as a carter's horse in France, to thoroughbred champion as the Godolphin Arabian at Newmarket, England, and the mute boy who cared for it all its life.

The Last Battle C.S. Lewis

(Chronicles of Narnia, #7) When evil comes to Narnia, Jill and Eustace help fight the great last battle, and Aslan leads his people to a glorious new paradise.

The Last Mission Harry Mazer

Jack is a freshman in high school when he decides that he wants to be a hero. One small lie gets him a job as a gunner in a B-17 flying combat mission across Europe in 1944. But he wasn't prepared for the terror of night missions or getting shot down.

A Light in the Attic Shel Silverstein

A collection of humorous poems and drawings.

Lily's Crossing Patricia Reilly Giff

During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach in 1944, Lily's friendship with a young Hungarian refugee causes her to see the war and her own world differently.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis

(Chronicles of Narnia, #2) Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder

A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire.

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.

Loser Jerry Spinelli

Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.

The Lost Flower Children Janet Taylor Lisle

After their mother's death, Olivia and Nellie go to live with their great aunt, where they slowly bring her overgrown and weedy old garden back to life, enabling them to adjust to a new life as well.

Lyddie Katherine Paterson

Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.

The Magician's Nephew C.S. Lewis

(Chronicles of Narnia, #1) When Digory and Polly try to return the wicked witch Jadis to her own world, the magic gets mixed up and they all land in Narnia where they witness Aslan blessing the animals with human speech.

Maniac Magee Jerry Spinelli

After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.

Miles' Song Alice McGill

In 1851 in South Carolina, Miles, a twelve-year-old slave, is sent to a "breaking ground" to have his spirit broken but endures the experience by secretly taking reading lessons from another slave.

The Miserable Mill Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, #4) Accidents, evil plots, and general misfortune abound when, in their continuing search for a home, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live and work in a sinister lumber mill.

The Moffats Eleanor Estes

Portrays the adventure-studded existence of the poor, but resourceful, Moffat family, whose members lie in a yellow house on New Dollar Street.

Moon of Two Dark Horses Sally M. Keehn

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, hoping to keep bloodshed away from their valley, a twelve-year-old Delaware Indian boy and his white friend search sacred land for the bones of a legendary beast.

More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Alvin Schwatz

More traditional and modern-day stories of ghosts, witches, vampires, "jump" stories, and scary songs.

Morris, the Moose B. Wiseman

Determined to prove that the cow he meets is really a moose, Morris the moose enlists the help of a rather confused deer and horse.

Mr. Popper's Penguins Richard Atwater

Mr. Popper is delighted when he is given an Antarctic penquin as a pet, but the situation gets out of hand after Captain Cook gets a mate and ten baby penguins.

My Guy Sarah Weeks

When Guy's mother announces that she is going to marry the father of his despised enemy Lana, Guy realizes that he must join forces with Lana to stop the event.

My Sister Annie Bill Dodds

Growing up, trying to be accepted, and having a sister with Down Syndrome make life a challenge for Charlie.

Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep Jack Prelutsky

Twelve poems featuring vampires, werewolves, ghouls, and other monsters.

Other Bells for Us to Ring Robert Cormier

When her father is transferred to an army camp in Massachusetts during the Second World War, 11-year-old Darcy feels isolated in her French-Canadian neighborhood until she meets the vivacious Kathleen Mary O'Hara and learns about Catholicism.

Other Side of Truth Beverly Naidoo

Smuggled out of Nigeria after their mother's murder, Sade and her younger brother are abandoned in London when their uncle fails to meet them at the airport and they are fearful of their new surroundings and of what may have happened to their journalist father back in Nigeria.

The Reptile Room Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, #2) After narrowly escaping the menacing clutches of the dastardly Count Olaf, the three Baudelaire orphans are taken in by a kindly herpetologist with whom they live happily for an all-too-brief time.

Rewind William Sleator

Not long after learning that he was adopted, eleven-year-old Peter is hit by a car and then given several chances to alter events that could lead to his death.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred Taylor

A Black family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.

Sahara Special Esme Raji Codell

Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates.

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief Wendelin Van Draanen

Seventh grader Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors' building where she is living with her grandmother.

Scary Stories (Series) Alvin Schwartz

Yarns about ghosts and witches, "jump" stories, scary songs, and modern-day scary tales. Many include song lyrics and music.

Secret City, USA Felice Holman

Against all odds, Benno and his friends in the barrio turn an abandoned house into a shelter for homeless people.

The Secret Within Theresa Golding

Carly Chambers spends her summer days delivering mysterious packages for her harsh father but when she sneaks out at night to find some freedom, she faces danger from all sides.

Show Me : A Picture Book of Sex for Children and Parents Will McBride

The title says it all -- photos of nudes and frank discussion of the sexual behaviors of children, teens, and adults.

Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady Selina Hastings

After a horrible hag saves King Arthur's life by answering a riddle, Sir Gawain agrees to marry her and thus releases her from an evil enchantment.

Skeleton Man Joseph Bruchac

After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange "great-uncle," Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even for her life.

The Slave Dancer Paula Fox

A thirteen-year-old boy wanders down to the New Orleans wharf to watch the slave traders unload their cargo. He is shanghaied aboard a ship bound for Africa to play for the slaves while they exercise. He befriends a black boy his age and they witness the horrors of slavery together.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove Yoko Walkins

A fictionalized autobiography in which eight-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.

Something Terrible Happened Barbara Ann Porte

Twelve-year-old Gillian is sent away from her mother who is dying of AIDS to live with her relatives in Tennessee.

Sound the Jubilee Sandra Forrester

A slave and her family find refuge on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, during the Civil War.

Space Station Seventh Grade Jerry Spinelli

Seventh-grader Jason narrates the events of his year, from school, hair, and pimples, to mothers, little brothers, and a girl.

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself Judy Blume

Getting to know the kids at her new school in Miami, making up stories about starring in movies, and finding the evidence needed to convince the chief of police that Hitler is alive keep ten-year-old Sally busy during the winter of 1948.

Sun and Spoon Kevin Henkes

After the death of his grandmother, ten-year-old Spoon observes the changes in his grandfather and tries to find the perfect artifact to preserve his memories of her.

Surviving the Applewhites Stephanie Tolan

Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.

Taking Care of Terrific Lois Lowry

Taking her overprotected young charge to the public park to broaden his horizons, fourteen-year-old baby sitter Enid enjoys unexpected friendships with a black saxophonist and a bag lady until she is charged with kidnapping.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume

A fourth grade boy tries to deal with his very active brother.

Tallahassee Higgins Mary Downing Hahn

Tallahassee Higgins enjoys the vagabond lifestyle she lives with her free-spirited mother, but when Mother goes to Los Angeles to try her luck in TV and movies, Tallahassee is placed with her uncle whose conventional suburban lifestyle makes her question her mother's values--and her own.

A Taste of Blackberries Doris Buchanan Smith

Jamie's sudden and terrible death leaves his best friend to face tragedy alone.

Teacup Full of Roses Sharon Bell Mathis

Joe's decision to leave home is prompted by despair over his Mother's blindness to his younger brother's talents and his older brother's drug addiction.

Then Again Maybe I Won't Judy Blume

Unable to accept or explain his family's new wealth, his growing interest in sex, and a friend's shoplifting, a 13-year-old finds his stomach pains getting worse and worse.

Through the Lock Carol Otis Hurst

Etta, a twelve-year-old orphan in nineteenth-century Connecticut, meets a boy living in an abandoned cabin on the New Haven and Northampton Canal and has adventures with him while trying to be reunited with her siblings.

Time Windows Kathryn Reiss

Thirteen-year-old Miranda moves with her family to a small Massachusetts town and a new home in which a mysterious dollhouse allows her to see into the past, where she discovers her new home exerts an evil influence on the women of each generation of inhabitants--including Miranda's mother.

Timothy of the Cay Theodore Taylor

Having survived being blinded and shipwrecked on a tiny Caribbean island with the old Afro-West Indian Timothy, twelve-year-old white Phillip is rescued and hopes to regain his sight with an operation. Alternate chapters follow the life of Timothy from his days as a young cabin boy during the late eighteen-hundreds.

Trouble River Betsy Byars

When he builds his raft, a twelve-year-old boy never dreams that it will serve as the sole means of escape for him and his grandmother when hostile Indians threaten their prairie cabin.

Tunes for Bears to Dance To Robert Cormier

Eleven-year-old Henry escapes his family's problems by watching the woodcarving of Mr. Levine, an elderly Holocaust survivor, but when Henry is manipulated into betraying his friend, he comes to know true evil.

Unfinished Dreams Jane Breskin Zalben

Jason, a nine-year-old Jewish boy, pursues his dream of becoming a great violinist, even as he deals with disappointments and the deaths of loved ones.

Up a Road Slowly Irene Hunt

After her mother's death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.

The Ups and Downs of Carl Davis, III Rosa Guy

In a series of letters to his parents and friends, twelve-year-old Carl Davis, III, chronicles his initial anger, confusion, and disdain as well as his gradual change of heart about being sent to a small Southern town to live with his grandmother.

The View from Saturday E.L. Konigsburg

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.

View from the Cherry Tree Willo Davis Roberts

Rob admits having seen a murder, but no one believes him--except the murderer.

The Vile Village Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, #7) Under a new government program based on the saying, It takes a village to raise a child, the Baudelaire orphans are adopted by an entire town, with disastrous results.

Walk Two Moons Sharon Creech

After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 Christopher Paul Curtis

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

The Westing Game Ellen Raskin

The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

What Jamie Saw Carolyn Coman

Having fled to a family friend's hillside trailer after his mother's boyfriend tried to throw his baby sister against a wall, nine-year-old Jamie finds himself living an existence full of uncertainty and fear.

What's Happening to my Body? For Boys and for Girls Lynda Madaras

Written for parents unsure about what to cover during "the talk". These books help parents inform their pre-teens about the changes their bodies are experiencing.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town Kimberly Willis Holt

During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.

Where Did I Come From? Peter Mayle

Written for children 4-8 yrs. old, this book describes the reproductive process from intercourse to birth.

Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein

A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings.

Where'd You Get the Gun, Billy? Fran Arrick

Classmates can't believe that 16-year-old Billy shot and killed his girlfriend. What they really cannot understand is how he got the gun in the first place.

The Whipping Boy Sid Fleischman

A bratty prince and his "whipping boy" have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

Whistler's Hollow Debbie Dadey

In 1920, eleven-year-old Lillie Mae, recently orphaned, goes to live with her loving great-aunt and great-uncle in their Kentucky farm house, where she learns the truth about several secrets.

Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway? Avi

It's 1945, and when Frankie isn't re-enacting his favorite radio dramas, he's spying on a "mad scientist" who has rented a room in his parents' house.

The Wide Window Lemony Snicket

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, #3) Catastrophes and misfortunes continue to plague the Baudelaire orphans after they're sent to live with fearful Aunt Josephine who offers little protection against Count Olaf's treachery.

Willow and Twig Jean Little

Abandoned once again by her mother and homeless in Vancouver with her younger brother Twig, Willow takes a chance and calls her grandmother for help, prompting a cross-country journey to find the home and family she's never known.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare

A young woman brought up in Barbados comes to live with her uncle in Connecticut, and finds their Puritan way of life difficult after her unconventional upbringing.

The Witches Roald Dahl

A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice.

Woodsong Gary Paulsen

Paulsen's autobiographical celebration of his longtime love of dogsledding and sled dogs

Wringer Jerry Spinelli

As Palmer comes of age he must either accept the violence of being a wringer at his Pennsylvania town's annual Pigeon day or find the courage to oppose it.

A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle

Meg and Charles Wallace set out with their friend Calvin in a search for their father. His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away and the children search through time and space to find him.

Young Adult Books

Title Author
33 Snowfish Adam Rapp

A homeless boy, running from the police with a fifteen-year-old, drug-addicted prostitute, her boyfriend who just killed his own parents, and a baby, gets the chance to make a better life for himself.

About David Susan Beth Pfeffer

When her close friend since childhood murders his adoptive parents and kills himself, 17-year-old Lynn is haunted by the tragedy.

Adrift Julie Burtinshaw

David Garrett's already difficult family life falls apart when his mother is diagnosed with clinical depression, and he and his sister get sent to Aunt Jenn in Desolation Sound, British Columbia, but when they steal a dinghy and try to escape the situation turns dangerous.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

Huckleberry Finn, an abused outcast, rafts with Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River, where they have a variety of experiences.

After the First Death Robert Cormier

Events of the hijacking of a bus of children by terrorists seeking the return of their homeland are described from the perspectives of a hostage, a terrorist, an Army general involved in the rescue operation, and his son.

After the Rain Norma Fox Mazer

After discovering her grandfather is dying, fifteen-year-old Rachel gets to know him better than ever before and finds the experience bittersweet.

The Afterlife Gary Soto

A senior at East Fresno High School lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he had gone to dance.

Alice on the Outside Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Eighth-grader Alice has lots of questions about sex, relationships, prejudice, and change.

All Together Now Sue Ellen Bridges

Casey spends her twelfth summer visiting her grandparents in their small town while her father serves in the Korean War and her mother works two jobs.

Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence Marion Dane Bauer

A collection of 16 short stories about homosexuality by such authors as Bruce Coville, M.E. Kerr, William Sleator, and Jane Yolen.

Am I the Last Virgin? Ten African American Reflections on Sex and Love Tara Roberts, ed.

In this collection, 10 African American women reflect on the sexual challenges they have faced--from sweet, weak-kneed first love to painful healing after rape and abuse.

The Amber Spyglass Phillip Pullman

Lyra and Will find themselves at the center of a battle between the forces of the Authority and those gathered by Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.

America E.R. Frank

At the discretion of the social welfare system, a 5-year-old boy named America trustingly leaves the safe haven of his foster home for a visit with his desperate, drug-addicted mother. And because of that one lapse in adult judgment, a child is lost within the system until almost 11 years later when he tries to end his own life.

Amy Mary Hooper

Lonely after being dumped by her two best friends, Amy hopes for a romance with Zed, whom she met in an Internet chat room, but the day they spend together in his seaside village near London is not what she expected.

Angel Face Norma Klein

When his father walks out on the family, Jason Lieberman must juggle his own plans for romance with his mother's increasing demands on him as she learns to adjust to her new single role.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison

Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

Annie on My Mind Nancy Garden

Liza puts aside her feelings for Annie after the disaster at school, but eventually she allows love to triumph over the ignorance of people.

Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, a Pregnant Teenager Jessica Trantowski

Annie, 14, falls head over heels for handsome, wealthy 16-year-old Danny when he befriends her. But soon she is left to face her biggest challenge on her own.

Are You in the House Alone? Richard Peck

Gail, a rape victim, learns she must prove her assailant's guilt in order to see him convicted.

Arizona Kid Ron Koertge

Sixteen-year-old Billy comes to terms with his own values when he is sent to live with his gay uncle in Tucson and is introduced to the world of rodeos where he falls in love with an outspoken racehorse rider named Cara.

Armageddon Summer Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville

Fourteen-year-old Marina and sixteen-year-old Jed accompany their parents' religious cult, the Believers, to await the end of the world atop a remote mountain, where they try to decide what they themselves believe.

Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories Chris Crutcher

A collection of short stories featuring characters from earlier books by Chris Crutcher.

Baby Be-Bop Francesca Lia Block

Dirk MacDonald, a sixteen-year-old boy living in Los Angeles, comes to terms with being gay after he receives surreal storytelling visitations from his dead father and great-grandmother.

Babylon Boyz Jess Mowry

Inner city teenagers find a suitcase full of cocaine and must decide whether to sell it and take the opportunity the money would provide or to destroy it to keep the drug from poisoning their community.

Bad Jean Ferris

In an attempt to please her friends, sixteen-year-old Dallas goes along with their plan to rob a convience store and when her father refuses to allow to her to come home, she is sentenced to six months in the Girls' Rehabilitation Center.

Bad Boy: A Memoir Walter Dean Myers

Myers' autobiographical account of growing up in Harlem in the 1940s.

Band of Angels Julian F. Thompson

While traveling across the country, a group of teenagers decide to launch a kids' campaign against nuclear war unaware that they are being pursued by government agents determinied to kill each of them.

The Battle of Jericho Sharon Draper

A high school junior and his cousin suffer the ramifications of joining what seems to be a "reputable" school club.

The Beast Walter Dean Myers

A visit to his Harlem neighborhood and the discovery that the girl he loves is using drugs give sixteen-year-old Anthony Witherspoon a new perspective both on his home and on his life at a Connecticut prep school.

Beauty Queen Linda Glovach

Samantha Strasbourg's diary of her life as an aspiring actress working at a topless bar in New York City provides an account of one teenager's addiction to heroin and the difficulties she must face when trying to escape its grasp.

Before Wings Beth Goobie

Adrien, recovering from a near-death experience after suffering a brain aneurysm two years earlier, spends the summer at her aunt's camp in Canada. While there, she unravels the secrets behind her aunt's haunted past.

Beggars' Ride Theresa Nelson

Twelve-year-old Clare flees an unhappy home life and tries to survive on the streets of Atlantic City with a small gang of homeless kids, each of whom has his own secret reason for distrusting society.

Begging for Change Sharon K. Flake

Teenaged Raspberry Hill tries to sort out her confused feelings of disgust, shame, and love for her homeless, drug addicted father and worries that she may have inherited his lying and stealing ways.

The Beginning of Unbelief Robin D. Jones

While keeping a journal to record some upheavals in his life, fifteen-year-old Hal creates within its pages a science fiction story starring his alter ego, Zach.

Beyond the Chocolate War Robert Cormier

Dark deeds continue at Trinity High School, climaxing in a public demonstration of one student's homemade guillotine.

The Big Bang James Forman

As he relates the events leading up to the terrible accident that kills his "wild' and much-admired older brother and seven friends, Chris, as the lone survivor, tries to sort out his confused feelings of guilt, grief, and anger and to better understand the kind of person his brother really was.

Big Mouth and Ugly Girl Joyce Carol Oates

When sixteen-year-old Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.

Billy Laura Roybal

Billy, a sixteen-year-old boy who becomes reunited with the family he was kidnapped from by his natural father six years earlier, tries to sort out his identity.

Binge Charles Ferry

When eighteen-year-old Weldon wakes up in a hospital, he must face the tragic consequences of a drinking spree.

Black Boy (Diary of a Teenage Stud) Vol. 1: Girls, Girls, Girls Jonah Black

Jonah reveals his difficulty in separating his rich imaginary life with the real world. Between writing about his steamy, disturbing encounters with the beautiful and possibly made-up Sophie, Jonah also documents some cold, hard facts about himself: he was expelled from his Pennsylvania boarding school, his former Florida high school is forcing him to repeat 11th grade, and his mom is a scary New Age sex therapist who writes books like Hello Penis! Hello, Vagina!

Black Mirror Nancy Werlin

Convinced her brother's death was murder rather than suicide, sixteen-year-old Frances begins her own investigation into suspicious student activities at her boarding school.

Blood and Chocolate Annette Curtis Klause

Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom.

Body of Christopher Creed Carol Plum-Ucci

Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast.

The Bomb Theodore Taylor

In 1945, when the American forces take the Bikini Atoll from the occupying Japanese, Sorry Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate effort to save his island home from a much more deadly threat.

Bone from a Dry Sea Peter Dickinson

A story, told by two different narrators, in two different worlds 4 million years apart, of two girls who made two different important discoveries.

Born Blue Han Nolan

Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mothers neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.

Both Sides Now Ruth Rennebaker

Fifteen-year-old Liza tries to deal with the normal everyday crises of life in an Austin, Texas, high school, a process complicated by her mother's fight with breast cancer.

Boy Meets Boy David Levithan

When Paul falls hard for Noah, he thinks he has found his one true love, but when Noah walks out of his life, Paul has to find a way to get him back and make everything right once more.

Boys Lie John Neufeld

Eighth-grader Gina Smith is targeted as easy by some boys in her new school because of her physical development and because of an incident in her past in which she was assaulted in a public swimming pool.

Boys Will Be Bruce Brooks

A collection of essays about the things that worry, excite, and interest adolescent boys.

Brave New Girl Louisa Luna

An outcast at school, misunderstood by her parents, and mourning the disappearance of her older brother, fourteen-year-old Doreen seeks solace in her music until her sister's boyfriend forces her to confront new feelings about the world around her.

The Brave Robert Lipsyte

Having left the Indian reservation for the streets of New York, seventeen-year-old boxer Sonny Bear tries to harness his inner rage by training Alfred Brooks, who has left the sport to become a policeman.

A Break with Charity: a Story about the Salem Witch Trials Ann Rinaldi

While waiting for a church meeting in 1706, Susanna English, daughter of a wealthy Salem merchant, recalls the malice, fear, and accusations of witchcraft that tore her village apart in 1692.

Breaking Boxes A.M. Jenkins

When in the course of an unusual friendship Charlie reveals something confidential about his brother, he must decide if he can accept the risks of caring.

Breaking Point Alex (Alexandria) Flinn

Fifteen-year-old Paul enters an exclusive private school and falls under the spell of a charismatic boy who may be using him.

Breaking Rank Kristen Randle

Seventeen-year-old Casey has some of her preconceived notions challenged when she begins to tutor Baby, a member of a ganglike non-conformist society called the Clan.

Breaking the Ring Donna Walsh Inglehart

Three girls spending their summer vacation at their grandparents' house on the St. Lawrence River discover hidden cocaine on an island and become suspected of drug dealing themselves.

Breathing Underwater Alexandra Flinn

Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

The Broken Bridge Philip Pullman

Over the course of a long summer in Wales, sixteen-year-old Ginny, the mixed-race, artist daughter of an English father and Haitian mother, learns that she has a half-brother from her father's earlier marriage, and that her own mother may still be alive.

Bronx Masquerade Nikki Grimes

While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

Buck Tamela Larimer

Buck Dawson, the handsome, independent golden-boy whom everyone loved, respected, and admired, finds his life and relationships threatened by the revelation of a dark secret from his past.

The Buffalo Tree Adam Rapp

A boy adjusts to life in a juvenile detention center.

Building Blocks Cynthia Voight

In a trip back in time, Brann meets his father as a ten-year-old and learns for the first time to love and understand him.

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway Robert Cormier

Sixteen-year-old Barney has only fleeting memories about his past but, as a voluntary patient at the institute for experimental medicine, he knows he is different from the terminally ill patients surrounding him. His involvement with the bitter, slowly dying, Mazzo brings Barney hope, pain, and a moment of heroic glory.

But I'll Be Back Again Cynthia Rylant

"In this autobiographical essay, Rylant recounts the formative events of her childhood: the early loss of both her mother and father, who sent her to live with grandparents after their separation; years spent in a small Bible-belt town after her mother returned to reclaim her; her crushes on peers and on a larger-than-life hero, Bobby Kennedy; and, through it all, a determination to "be someone else," which fueled her willingness to try on the mantle of a writer."--from PW

The Cage Ruth Minsky Sender

"Sender writes a searing, memorable story of her years in the Lodz ghetto and in Auschwitz."--from PW>

Caged Eagles Eric Walters

Fourteen-year-old Tadashi Fukushima and his Japanese Canadian family are evacuated from their village near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and held in an internment camp where he struggles to balance being Japanese enough and Canadian enough to get along with everyone.

Catalyst Laurie Halse Anderson

Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.

The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

After leaving prep school Holden Caulfield spends three days on his own in New York City

Catherine, Called Birdy Karen Cushman

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Chain Letter Christopher Pike

Each of the seven teenage friends involved in the death of a lone stranger on a deserted California road receive letters signed "Your Caretaker" demanding dangerous, impossible things and threatening violence--then fatal "accidents" begin to occur.

Changing Jereth Elizabeth Wennick

This novel "follows a Canadian teenager as he struggles to escape his troubled life." --from PW

The Cheat Amy Goldman Koss

When Sarah gets her hands on the answers to the eighth-grade geography midterm and decides to share them with some other students, the consequences are far-ranging.

Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys Francesca Lia Block

With their parents away, four young people form a rock band that becomes wildly popular, carrying them into a "freer" life than they can cope with.

The Chief Robert Lipsyte

On the verge of having a shot at the heavyweight boxing championship, nineteen-year-old Sonny Bear finds himself with conflicting loyalties when trouble erupts on his reservation over the construction of a new gambling casino. Sequel to: The Brave.

Chill Wind Janet McDonald

Afraid that she will have no where to go when her welfare checks are stopped, nineteen-year-old high school dropout Aisha tries to figure out how she can support herself and her two young children in New York City.

Chinese Handcuffs Chris Crutcher

Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen-year-old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her.

The Chocolate War Robert Cormier

A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.

Confess-O-Rama Ron Koertge

When Tony sees the Confess-O-Rama flyer he thinks he's found the perfect "listener" to talk about all his problems and feelings. But when he finds out to whom he has been confessing, he feels betrayed.

The Contender Robert Lipsyte

Against great odds, a black high school drop-out trains to become a championship boxer.

Coraline Neil Gaiman

Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice Jim Heynen

When sent to live on a farm in Iowa as an alternative to juvenile detention, seventeen-year-old Cosmos falls in love with a religious girl and reconsiders his values and beliefs.

Crazy Horse Electric Game Chris Crutcher

A high school athlete, frustrated at being disabled after an accident, runs away from home to Oakland, California, and is helped back to mental and physical health by a Black benefactor and the people in a special school where he enrolls.

Crosses Shelley Stoehr

Unhappy at home, Nancy and her friend Katie adopt punk lifestyles and find relief in cutting themselves, until Nancy is forced to confront her problems.

The Cure Sonia Levitin

sixteen-year-old boy living in 2407 collides with the past when he finds himself in Strasbourg in 1348 confronting the anti-Semitism that sweeps through Europe during the Black Plague.

Cut Patricia McCormick

While confined to a mental hospital, thirteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.

Damned Strong Love: the True Story of Willi G. and Stefan K. Lutz Van Dijk

Two males develop their relationship during World War II when Stephan K. falls in love with an Austrian-German soldier.

Dance on My Grave: a Life and a Death in Four Parts Aidan Chambers

Hal's summer affair with Barry Goldman ends tragically when Hal discovers he is much more committed to the relationship than his friend.

Dancing Naked Shelley Hdrlitschka

After Kia discovers that she is pregnant and that the father wants her to have an abortion, she must make some difficult decisions, aided by her youth counselor Justin and Grace, a woman she met while volunteering at a senior's home.

Danny Ain't Joe Cottonwood

With the help of some unusual characters in a small California town, Danny struggles to live on his own while his father, a Vietnam veteran, is in the VA hospital.

The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper

Will Stanton discovers the role he must play in the struggle to overcome the powers of the Dark.

Darkness, Be My Friend John Marsden

As survivors of an enemy invasion of their homeland, Ellie and her friends return to Australia as guides for soldiers from New Zealand who plan an attack on the Wirrawee airfield.

David and Della Paul Zindel

David Mahooley, a teenage playwright suffering from writer's block, finds himself drawn into the passionate world of a flamboyant, alcoholic young actress with a talent for lying.

David and Jonathan Cynthia Voigt

The relationship between two close friends, Henry and Jonathan, changes when Jonathan's cousin David, a survivor of the Holocaust, comes to live with David's family.

David vs. God Mary E. Pearson

Certain that his death was a mistake, wise guy David James finds himself teamed up with the "Queen of the Nerds" from his high school in preparation for a debate with God.

A Day No Pigs Would Die Robert Newton Peck

To a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a living, maturity comes early as he learns "doing what's got to be done," especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter.

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book Nat Hentoff

Students and faculty at a high school become embroiled in a censorship case over "Huckleberry Finn."

The Dear One Jacqueline Woodson

Twelve-year-old Feni has to adjust when the pregnant young daughter of an old friend of her mother's comes to stay with them.

Deenie Judy Blume

A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis.

Define "Normal" Julie Anne Peters

When she agrees to meet with Jasmine as a peer counselor at their middle school, Antonia never dreams that this girl with the black lipstick and pierced eyebrow will end up helping her deal with the serious problems she faces at home and become a good friend.

Deliver Us from Evie M.E.Kerr

Sixteen-year-old Parr Burrman and his family face some difficult times when word spreads through their rural Missouri town that his older sister is a lesbian, and she leaves the family farm to live with the daughter of the town's banker.

Detour for Emmy Marilyn Reynolds

Emmy, whose future had once looked so bright, struggles to overcome the isolation and depression brought about by being a teen mother who gets little support from her family or the father of her child.

Devils' Race Avi

Sixteen-year-old John Proud is tormented by the ghost of an evil ancestor, with his own name and his own face, who was hanged in 1854 for being a demon.

The Devil's Arithmetic Jane Yolen

Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank

Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary journal on her 13th birthday, just weeks before going into hiding in Nazi occupied Holland. Her world-wide success of her journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945.

Dicey's Song Cynthia Voigt

Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey must decide what she wants for her siblings and herself.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack M.E. Kerr

Many things change in a teenage boy's life when he meets the overweight girl who answers his ad for the cat he must give away.

The Divorce Express Paula Danziger

Resentful of her parents' divorce, a young girl tries to accommodate herself to their new lives and also find a place for herself.

Dixie Storms Barbara Hall

Fourteen-year-old Dutch Peyton learns about growing up as her family struggles with a crippling drought and a painful past.

Dogsong Gary Paulsen

A fourteen-year-old Inuit boy who feels assailed by the modernity of his life takes a 1400-mile journey by dog sled across ice, tundra, and mountains seeking his own "song" of himself.

Doing It Melvin Burgess

Three teenage friends, Dino, Jonathon, and Ben, confront the confusions, fears, and joys of adolescent male sexuality.

Doing Time: Notes from the Undergrad Rob Thomas

Each of these ten short stories focuses on a high school student's mandatory 200 hours of community service and the youth's response to the required project.

Don't Look Behind You Lois Duncan

Seventeen-year-old April finds her comfortable life changed forever when death threats to her father, a witness in a federal case, force her family to go into hiding under assumed names and flee the pursuit of a hired killer. Includes material on the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey Margaret Haddix

In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish chronicles the changes in her life when her abusive father returns home after a two-year absence.

Double Date R.L.Stine

When the beautiful Wade twins move to Shadyside, they both fall for Bobby Newkirk, but one of them--either quiet, shy Bree or sexy Samantha--turns murderously jealous.

Double Dutch Sharon Draper

Three eighth-grade friends, preparing for the International Double Dutch Championship jump rope competition in their home town of Cincinnati, Ohio, cope with Randy's missing father, Delia's inability to read, and Yo Yo's encounter with the class bullies.

Double or Nothing Dennis Foon

Kip has a gambling addiction, but when Kip starts dating Joey his gambling addiction is worsened by the fact that Joey's dad is a Master Illusionist and a gambler.

Downriver Will Hobbs

Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Downsiders Neal Shusterman

A fourteen-year-old boy who lives in the subterranean world beneath New York City meets a girl from above ground. When she visits him down below, she discovers his world is not what it appears to be.

Dragonwings Laurence Yep

In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.

Dreamland Sarah Dessen

After her older sister runs away, sixteen-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major change in her own life and begins an abusive relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant, and dangerous.

Driving Lessons Catherine Dexter

When she is sent to the small town in South Dakota where she had lived briefly with her great-grandmother after her father's death, fourteen-year-old Mattie must sort out her confused feelings about why she is there, her mother's possible remarriage, and the free-spirited seventeen-year-old she has just met.

Drowning Anna Sue Mayfield

Beautiful, intelligent Anna Goldsmith has just attempted suicide. As she lies in a coma, her friend Melanie and Anna's parents try to figure out why she tried to take her own life.

Drowning of Stephan Jones Bette Green

As her mother battles a citizens' group that wants to ban all "anti-Christian" literature from the public library, Carla faces her own battle of torn loyalties when her boyfriend starts persecuting the homosexual owners of an antiques shop.

Dunk David Lubar

While hoping to work as the clown in an amusement park dunk tank on the New Jersey shore the summer before his junior year in high school, Chad faces his best friend's serious illness, hassles with police, and the girl that got away.

The Duplicate William Sleator

Sixteen-year-old David, finding a strange machine that creates replicas of living organisms, duplicates himself and suffers the horrible consequences when the duplicate turns against him.

The Eagle Kite Paula Fox

Liam's father has AIDS, and his family cannot talk about it until Liam reveals a secret that he has tried to deny ever since he saw his father embracing another man at the beach.

Echo Francesca Lia Block

Jealous of her perfect mother and ignored by her artist father, Echo seeks attention and healing from a variety of people living in beautiful Los Angeles.

The Eclipse of Moonbeam Dawson Jean Davies Okimoto

Annotation goes here.

Edge Michael Cadnum

Zachary, living with his divorced mother in California, finds violence gradually invading his life and making significant changes in his day-to-day existence.

Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds Paul Zindel

"Shame hangs in the air of this house and palpably as poison gas. And yet, Zindel reminds us, strong, strange, beautiful flowers spring from such compost heaps. It is a troubling thought, one of the honest and intelligent values of this splendid and tormented play."-- from Time

Ever After Rachel Vail

The appearance of a new girl in her community changes the relationship between fourteen-year-old Molly and her best friend Vicky and complicates Molly's attempt to pinpoint her own identity.

The Executioner Jay Bennett

Three survivors of an automobile crash in which the driver was killed are threatened by an executioner who believes they too should die.

Extreme Elvin Chris Lynch

The story of one overweight teen's efforts to deal with his first year in high school, his mother, his body, and the opposite sex. The sequel to Slot Machine.

A Face in Every Window Han Nolan

After the death of his grandmother, who held the family together, teenage JP is left with a mentally challenged father and a mother who seems ineffectual and constantly sick, and he feels everything sliding out of control.

Face on the Milk Carton Caroline Cooney

A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.

Facing the Music Margaret Willey

Through her love of music and membership in her brother's band, fifteen-year-old Lisa learns to deal with her feelings of abandonment following her mother's death.

Facts Speak for Themselves Brock Cole

At the request of her social worker, thirteen-year-old Linda gradually reveals how her life with her unstable mother and her younger brother led to her rape and the murder she witnessed.

Fade Robert Cormier

In the summer of 1938, Paul Moreaux, the thirteen-year-old son of French-Canadian immigrants, inherits the ability to become invisible, but this power soon leads to death and destruction.

Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

Family of Strangers Susan Beth Pfeffer

Through letters and essays, emotionally disturbed sixteen-year-old Abby chronicles her growing desperation in a family consisting of parents who seem devoid of love, one older sister bent of self-destruction, and another older sister who has always seemed perfect.

Far from Shore Kevin Major

Follows the lives of a Newfoundland family for several months as they deal with the father's drinking and unemployment, the son's poor choice of friends and subsequent problems, and general familial deterioration.

Farewell to Manzanar Jeanne Wakatuski Houston

Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years old in 1942 when her family was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment camp--with 10,000 other Japanese Americans.

Fat Chance Leslea Newman

In a series of diary entries, thirteen-year-old Judi recounts her struggles to lose weight, hide her bulimia from her mother, find a boy friend, and decide on a profession.

Fat Kid Rules the World K.L. Going

Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.

Father Figure Richard Peck

Jim, 17, has always fathered his younger brother until, on the death of their mother, their father returns. Then Jim must compete not just for the father role but also for the woman he and his father both love.

Feed Michael T. Anderson

In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

Fell M.E. Kerr

A strange incident on the night of the senior prom changes John Fell's entire life, leading him to enroll in an exclusive private school under an assumed name.

Finding My Voice Marie G. Lee

As she tries to enjoy her senior year and choose which college she will attend, Korean American Ellen Sung must deal with the prejudice of some of her classmates and pressure from her parents to get good grades.

Finn: a Novel Mathew Olshan

Rescued from a murderous life with her mother, Chloe Wilder lives with her grandparents in the cocoon of a quiet, middle-class neighborhood. For the first time in her life, things are steady, safe ... and stifling. Chloe, along with her grandparents Hispanic maid, set off on an adventure, very similar to that of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. She encounters prejudice and social injustice as well as human kindness.

First French Kiss and other Traumas Adam Bagdasarian

The author recounts humorous, sad, traumatic, romantic, and confusing episodes from his childhood.

The Fling Julian Thompson

When three high-school friends are invited to live briefly with a wealthy neighbor, their lives are changed by their relationships with a mysterious "gardener."

Forged by Fire Sharon M. Draper

After surviving a fire, Gerald experiences separation from his mother, the loss of his great aunt, and life with his stepsister's abusive father.

Freak the Mighty Rodman Philbrick

At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.

Freewill Chris Lynch

A teenager trying to recover from the tragic death of his father and stepmother believes himself to be responsible for the rash of teen suicides occurring in his town.

Frenchtown Summer Robert Cormier

A series of vignettes in free verse in which the writer reminisces about his life as a twelve-year-old boy living in a small town during the hot summer of 1938.

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun Jacqueline Woodson

Thirteen-year-old Melanin Sun's comfortable, quiet life is shattered when his mother reveals she has fallen in love with a woman.

The Gathering Isobelle Carmody

When fifteen-year-old Nathanial moves to a sinister town that has been bruised by an ancient evil, he finds himself one of those chosen to fight the cycle of darkness.

Geography Club Brent Hartinger

A group of gay and lesbian teenagers finds mutual support when they form the "Geography Club" at their high school.

Ghost Boy Lain Lawrence

An albino teenage boy strives to find acceptance in a circus.

Gingerbread Rachel Cohn

After being expelled from a fancy boarding school, Cyd Charisse's problems with her mother escalate after Cyd falls in love with a sensitive surfer and is subsequently sent from San Francisco to New York City to spend time with her biological father.

Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date Todd Strasser

When Brad asks someone else to the senior prom, Nicole resorts to a desperate measure -- she decides to make her next-door neighbor over into a dream date.

Girl Goddess #9 Francesca Lia Block

Stories about nine remarkable young women include the tales of a girl with two mothers, a girl who keeps a strange blue-skinned creature in her closet, a rock star groupie, and a dancer who loves poetry and moonlight picnics

A Girl Named Disaster Nancy Farmer

While journeying to Zimbabwe from Mozambique, eleven-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

Give a Boy a Gun Todd Strasser

Events leading up to a night of terror at a high school dance are told from the point of view of various people involved.

The Giver Lynn Hall

A growing attachment between fifteen-year-old Mary McNeal and her homeroom teacher tests her character and proves her maturity.

The Glory Field Walter Dean Myers

Follows a family's two hundred forty-one year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South Carolina that they call the Glory Field.

Go Ask Alice Anonymous

A novel in diary form of a fifteen-year-old girl's journey from a secure middle class family to the nightmare world of drug addiction, hustlers, and dealers.

The Goats Brock Cole

The boy and girl are stripped and marooned on a small island for the night. They are the 'goats.' The kids at camp think it is a great joke. No harm is intended, but the goats don't see it that way.

Going for the Big One P.J. Petersen

Left penniless by their latest stepmother while their father is looking for work in Alaska, three youngsters start out on what becomes a dangerous trek over the mountains to a small town where they once lived and where they plan to wait for their father.

The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

Accompanied by her shape-shifting demon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

Good Moon Rising Nancy Garden

Two girls working together on a school play fall in love.

Good Night, Mr. Tom Michelle Magorian

A battered, nine-year-old boy learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.

Good-bye and Keep Cold Jenny Davis

Edda's mother is courted by the man responsible for her young father's death in a mine accident in a small Kentucky town.

Good-bye Tomorrow Gloria Miklowitz

A high school junior who has received two blood transfusions finds out he has the AIDS virus, though not the disease, and finds all his relationships changing--with his friends, his girlfriend, and even his family.

Grab Hands and Run Frances Temple

After his father disappears, twelve-year-old Felipe, his mother, and his younger sisters set out on a difficult and dangerous journey, trying to make their way from their home in El Salvador to Canada.

The Greatest: Muhammad Ali Walter Dean Myers

A biography of Ali coveringhis life from childhood to the present day. Includes highlights of his career and the controversies surrounding him.

Grounding of Group 6 Julian Thompson

Teenage backpackers from an exclusive boarding school find themselves the target of contract killers.

Group of One Rachna Gilmore

Learning from her grandmother that her family was active in the Quit India movement of 1942, a rebellion against nearly two centuries of British occupation, gives fifteen-year-old Tara new pride in her heritage, but she still objects when her teacher implies she is not a regular Canadian.

Guilt Trip Stephen Schwandt

High school junior Eddie thinks he may have found the solution to his anger and unfocused identity in the beautiful, disturbing Angela Favor, until she draws him into the investigation of the murder of her director at the New Energy Theater Troupe.

Handbook for Boys: a Novel Walter Dean Myers

Sixteen-year-old Jimmy, on probation for assault, talks about life with three old men in a Harlem barbershop and hears about the tools he can use to get what he wants.

Hanging on to Max Margaret Bechard

When his girlfriend decides to give their baby away, seventeen-year-old Sam is determined to keep him and raise him alone.

Happenings Katie Cobb

A high school girl faces pressure from her older brother, who is also her guardian, when she and her peers peacefully protest a teacher who they believe has stopped doing her job.

Happy Endings are All Alike Sandra Scoppettone

Small town prejudices emerge when a love affair between two teenage girls is revealed.

Hard Love Ellen Wittlinger

After starting to publish a zine in which he writes his secret feelings about his lonely life and his parents' divorce, sixteen-year-old John meets an unusual girl and begins to develop a healthier personality.

The Harmony Arms Ron Koertge

Fifteen-year-old Gabriel is continually embarrassed by his teacher/writer father, but when he goes to live with him in Los Angeles in an apartment complex full of unusual characters, Gabriel gains new insights into himself and his father.

Harris and Me Gary Paulsen

Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world.

The Hate Crime Phyllis Karas

Unable to understand why his district attorney father is so upset about the defacing of a local temple, Zack learns that one of his own classmates is behind the crime and begins to understand why such acts are so threatening.

Hawksong Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

In a land that has been at war so long that no one remembers the reason for fighting, the shapeshifters who rule the two factions agree to marry in the hope of bringing peace, despite deep-seated fear and distrust of each other.

Healer Peter Dickenson

Although grudgingly aware that ten-year-old Pinki has extraordinary powers to heal, sixteen-year-old Barry becomes increasingly convinced that she is an unwilling participant at the healing sessions run by her enterprising stepfather.

Heartbreak and Roses: Real-Life Stories of Troubled Love Janet Bode and Stan Mack

A dozen real-life stories explore teenage relationships, focusing on such topics as interracial dating, codependence, coping with a disability and breaking up.

Heaven Angela Johnson

Fourteen-year-old Marley's seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.

"Hello", I Lied M.E. Kerr

Summering in the Hamptons on a famous rock star's estate, 17-year-old Lang tries to decide how to tell his longtime friends that he's gay--while struggling with an unexpected infatuation with a young woman from France.

Hero S. L. Rottman

After years of abuse from his mother and neglect from his father, ninth-grader Sean Parker is headed for trouble when he is sent to do community service for violating curfew at a farm owned by an old man who teaches Sean that he can take control of his own fate.

Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich Alice Childress

The life of a thirteen-year-old Harlem youth on his way to becoming a confirmed heroin addict is seen from his viewpoint and from that of several people around him.

Heroes Robert Cormier

After joining the army at fifteen and having his face blown away by a grenade in a battle in France, Francis returns home to Frenchtown hoping to find--and kill--the former childhood hero he feels betrayed him.

Hey, Kid! Does She Love Me? Harry Mazer

Jeff dreams of being a movie director, and when he falls in love with a once-aspiring actress and her baby daughter, he imagines that together they can make their dreams come true.

Holding Up the Earth Dianne E. Gray

Fourteen-year-old Hope visits her new foster mother's Nebraska farm and, through old letters, a diary, and stories, gets a vivid picture of the past in the voices of four girls her age who lived there in 1869, 1900, 1936, and 1960.

Holly Starcross Berlie Doherty

When fourteen-year-old Holly Starcross meets her father for the first time in eight years, the experience changes the way she thinks about him, her mother, and even herself.

Home Before Dark Sue Ellen Bridgers

Returning with her migrant family to her father's childhood home, a 14-year-old struggles with her new stationary life.

Hoops Walter Dean Myers

A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.

Hoot Carl Hiaasen

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

House of Stairs William Sleator

Five fifteen-year-old orphans of widely varying personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in a house of endless stairs as subjects for a psychological experiment on conditioned human response.

The House of the Scorpion Nancy Farmer

In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

How I Changed My Life Todd Strasser

Overweight high school senior Bo decides to change her image while working on the school play with a former star football player who is also struggling to find a new identity for himself.

Hush Jacqueline Woodson

Twelve-year-old Toswiah finds her life changed when her family enters the witness protection program.

I Am the Cheese Robert Cormier

A young boy desperately tries to unlock his past yet knows he must hide those memories if he is to remain alive.

I hadn't Meant to Tell You This Jacqueline Woodson

Marie, the only Black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her White classmate Lena, discovers that Lena's father is doing horrible things to her in private.

I Was a Teenage Fairy Francesca Lia Block

A feisty, sexy fairy helps a girl deal with her annoying mother, absent father, and a past incident of sexual abuse.

I'll Get There, It Better Be Worth the Trip John Donovan

Written in 1969, it was the first young-adult novel to deal with the issue of homosexuality.

If It Doesn't Kill You Margaret Bechard

High school freshman Ben should be enjoying playing football, meeting girls, and going to parties, but he's too busy trying to cope with his father's moving out to live with another man.

Imitate the Tiger Jan Cheripko

A high school football player has to face his collapsing world brought on by his drinking problem.

In the Forests of the Night Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Risika, a teenage vampire, wanders back in time to the year 1684 when, as a human, she died and was transformed against her will.

Interstellar Pig William Sleator

Barney's boring seaside vacation suddenly becomes more interesting when the cottage next door is occupied by three exotic neighbors who are addicted to a game they call "Interstellar Pig."

Invitation to the Game Monica Hughes

Unemployed after high school in the highly robotic society of 2154, Lisse and seven friends resign themselves to a boring existence in their "Designated Area" until the government invites them to play The Game.

Ironman Chris Crutcher

While training for a triathlon, seventeen-year-old Bo attends an anger management group at school which leads him to examine his relationship with his father.

It Happened to Nancy Beatrice Sparks

The editor of the classic GO ASK ALICE has compiled the poignant journals of a 14-year-old date-rape victim who contracted AIDS and died.

It's Ok if You Don't Love Me Norma Klein

A 17-year-old girl in New York City with strong ideas about liberated sexual behavior becomes involved with a more traditional boy from Ohio.

Izzy, Willy-Nilly Cynthia Voigt

A car accident causes fifteen-year-old Izzy to lose one leg and face the need to start building a new life as an amputee.

Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson

Feeling deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to find her identity.

Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged Rebedda Fjelland Davis

The friendship between a troubled boy, recently released from a reform school, and the farm girl who lives next door angers the faculty at their school and leads to a dangerous confrontation.

Jazmin's Notebook Nikki Grimes

Jazmin, a fourteen-year-old African-American girl who lives with her sister in a Harlem apartment, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a diary.

Jock and Jill Robert Lipsyte

Jock Ryder, aspiring baseball star, meets Jillian, a girl who makes him reevaluate all his priorities.

Jubilee Journey Carolyn Meyer

Emily Rose has always been comfortable with her biracial family background, until she visits her great-grandmother in Texas.

Julie of the Wolves Jean Craighead George

While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.

The Jumping Tree Rene Saldana

Rey, a Mexican American living with his close-knit family in a Texas town near the Mexican border, describes his transition from boy to young man.

Katie.com: My Story Katherine Tarbox

Katherine Tarbox's true story of how a man in his forties with a history of pedophilia used the Internet to manipulate and molest her. She discusses how she fought back by prosecuting him under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and by sharing her experiences so that other teens might avoid a similar situation.

Keeper of the Night Kimberly Willis Holt

Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

The Keeper Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Junior high school student Nick must face the fact that his father is plunging fast into serious mental illness.

Keeping Christina Sue Ellen Bridgers

When she befriends Christina, the new girl in school, Annie does not suspect that there is more to her than meets the eye and that Christina will have a huge impact on Annie's family and her oldest friends.

Keeping You a Secret Julie Anne Peters

As she begins a very tough last semester of high school, Holland finds herself puzzled about her future and intrigued by a transfer student who wants to start a Lesbigay club at school.

Kidnapping for Suzie Q Martin Waddell

Panicked robbers of a supermarket in Northern Ireland seize Susie Quinn in their rush to flee. She must use all her cunning and courage to escape.

The Killer's Cousin Nancy Werlin

After being acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David goes to stay with relatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strange young cousin Lily.

Killing Mr. Griffin Lois Duncan

A teenager casually suggests playing a cruel trick on the English teacher, but did he intend it to end with murder?

Kissing Kate Lauren Myracle

Sixteen-year-old Lissa's relationship with her best friend changes after they kiss at a party and Lissa does not know what to do, until she gets help from an unexpected new friend.

Lady: My Life as a Bitch Melvin Burgess

In Manchester, England, when a seventeen-year-old girl who hasn't been acting like herself lately is turned into the very creature she has personified, she isn't sure that the change is all bad.

The Land Mildred Taylor

After the Civil War, Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, finds himself caught between the two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.

Lark in the Morning Nancy Garden

Gillian's family arrives at their summer home to find it has been burglarized, and Gillian is horrified to discover that her diary is one of the stolen items.

Lasso the Moon Dennis Covington

When April Hunt moves to St. Simon Island, Georgia, to live with her father, a recovering alcoholic, she becomes involved with an illegal alien from El Salvador and learns about his life and country.

Last Safe Place on Earth Richard Peck

Fifteen-year-old Todd sees his perfect suburban world start to unravel when his little sister has her mind poisoned by a member of a fundamentalist sect, and he begins to notice signs of censorship in his community.

The Late Great Me Sandra Scoppettone

Having thought that drinking would help her make and keep friends, a sixteen-year-old comes to realize that she is no longer in control and seeks help.

Learning How to Fall Norma Klein

Seventeen-year-old Dustin, who lives with a recovering alcoholic father divorced from his lesbian mother, experiences problems in dealing with his girlfriends and feelings of being unable to cope, as he learns how to fall and land on his feet.

Learning to Swim Ann Turner

A series of poems convey the feelings of a young girl whose sense of joy and security at the family's summer house is shattered when an older boy who lives nearby sexually abuses her.

Leaving Fishers Margaret Peterson Haddix

After joining her new friends in the religious group called Fishers of Men, Dorry finds herself immersed in a cult from which she must struggle to extricate herself.

Lena Jacqueline Woodson

Thirteen-year-old Lena and her younger sister Dion mourn the death of their mother as they hitchhike from Ohio to Kentucky while running away from their abusive father.

Leslie's Journal Allan Stratton

Leslie endures a harmful relationship with an abusive boyfriend. She finds solace by writing in her journal.

Letters from a Slave Girl Many E. Lyons

A fictionalized version of the life of Harriet Jacobs, told in the form of letters that she might have written during her slavery in North Carolina and as she prepared for escape to the North in 1842.

Letters in the Attic Bonnie Shimko

Lizzy McMann's life is chaotic and lonely until she makes friends with an older, eighth grader named Eva. Lizzie finds herself dealing with her feelings of shame, confusion and jealousy as she comes to realize that she is in love with Eva.

Life in the Fat Lane Cherie Bennett

Sixteen-year-old Lara, winner of beauty pageants and Homecoming Queen, is distressed and bewildered when she starts gaining weight and becomes a fat girl.

Life Without Friends Ellen Emerson White

After the drug-overdose death of a fellow student, Beverly breaks away from the fast crowd but finds herself friendless and full of guilt until she meets Derek who helps her come to terms with the past and look with some hope to the future.

Little Chicago Adam Rapp

An eleven-year-old boy tries to cope with being sexually abused, neglected, and treated cruelly at school.

Loch Paul Zindel

Fifteen-year-old Loch and his younger sister join their father on a scientific expedition searching for enormous prehistoric creatures sighted in a Vermont lake, but it soon becomes obvious that the expedition's leaders aren't interested in preserving the creatures.

Locked Inside Nancy Werlin

After she is kidnapped from the exclusive boarding school she attends, heiress Marnie Skyedottir must rethink her idealized relationship with her mother, her own sense of who she is, and her relationships with others.

Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster Tim Winton

When Lockie Leonard wipes out on a huge wave, he's thrown into a friendship with a weird but extremely intelligent Metal Head, Geoff Eggleston, who joins Lockie in his crusade to clean up the harbor in his coastal Australian town.

Long Live the Queen Ellen Emerson White

The President's teenage daughter is a victim of kidnapping by terrorists.

Long Night of Leo and Bree Ellen Wittlinger

On the anniversary of his sister's murder, Leo, tormented by his mother's insane accusations and his own waking nightmares, kidnaps a wealthy girl intending to kill her, but instead their long night together helps them both face their futures.

Look for Me by Moonlight Mary Downing Hahn

While staying at the remote and reputedly haunted Maine inn run by her father and pregnant stepmother, sixteen-year-old Cynda feels increasingly isolated from her father's new family and finds solace in the attentions of a charming but mysterious guest.

Lord of the Flies William Golding

The classic study of human nature which depicts the degeneration of a group of schoolboys marooned on a desert island.

Losing Louisa Judith Caseley

Sixteen-year-old Lacey worries about the effect of her parents' divorce on her family, especially her mother, and about her older sister's sexual activity, which may have made her pregnant.

Love Among the Walnuts Jean Ferris

Born and raised in isolation in a wealthy, eccentric family, Sandy is shocked when he, his parents, and their servants become victims of a vicious plot by his greedy uncles to incapacitate them and take their money.

Love and Other Four Letter Words Carolyn Mackler

When she and her mother move to an apartment in New York City after her parents decide on a trial separation, sixteen-year-old Sammie learns to deal with her mother's fragile mental state, her best friend's self-centeredness, several new friendships, and her own budding sexuality.

Love is Not Enough Marilyn Levy

A visit to her boyfriend's ritzy beachfront home becomes an eye-opening occasion for Delphi, a seventeen-year-old half-African-American, half-Greek who is comfortable with herself until she meets Nick's parents.

Loves Me, Loves Me Not Anilu Bernardo

While trying to win the attention of a high school basketball star who already has a girlfriend, Maggie, a Cuban American, learns painful lessons about romantic young love.

Lucas Kevin Brooks

On an isolated English island, fifteen-year-old Caitlin McCann makes the painful journey from adolescence to adulthood through her experiences with a mysterious boy, whose presence has an unsettling effect on the island's inhabitants.

Lucy Peale Colby Rodowsky

Failing to get sympathy from her strict fundamentalist father when a rape leaves her pregnant, Lucy flees her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore and attempts to find self-reliance in nearby Ocean City.

Lucy the Giant Sherri L. Smith

Fifteen-year-old Lucy, the largest girl in her school, leaves her small Alaska town and her alcoholic father and discovers hardship--and friendship--posing as an adult aboard a commercial fishing boat.

Make Lemonade Virginia Euwer Wolff

In order to earn money for college, fourteen-year-old LaVaughn babysits for a teenage mother of two. Written in 66 chapters, with text lines that break at natural speaking phrases.

The Man Without a Face Isabelle Holland

A fatherless 14-year-old boy develops an unusual relationship with the man living near his summer home who helps him prepare his entrance exams to boarding schools.

Many Stones Carolyn Coman

Berry Morgan's divorced father returns to tell her that her sister has been murdered in South Africa.

Marked by Fire Joyce Carol Thomas

Abby, born in an Oklahoma cotton field in the wake of a tornado, learns the secrets of folk medicine from the healer Mother Barker as she grows up.

Memory Margaret Mahy

On the fifth anniversary of his older sister's death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart, troubled by feelings of guilt and an imperfect memory of the event, goes in search of the only other witness to the fatal accident and, through a chance meeting with a senile old woman, finds a way to free himself of the past.

Mick Chris Lynch

His friendship with two Latino students offers 15-year old Mick an alternative to the drunken savagery of his brother and the narrow thinking of his Irish-American neighborhood in Boston.

The Midwife's Apprentice Karen Cushman

In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

Millicent's Gift Ann Rinaldi

Like all her brothers and sisters, Millicent has recieved a special gift from her magical family, but she quickly learns that a gift can also be a burden.

Miracle's Boys Jacqueline Woodson

Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

Miriam's Well Lois Ruby

When Miriam develops bone cancer, a battle follows over whether or not she must be treated.

Missing Pieces Norma Fox Mazer

As she watches her friends with their fathers, fourteen-year-old Jessie decides the family she shares with her mother and her great-great-aunt is not enough, so she sets out to learn more about the father who left when she was just a baby.

Missing the Piano Adam Rapp

When Mike's mother and sister go on tour with "Les Miserables," Mike's father and his new wife enroll Mike in St. Matthew's Military Academy where, facing brutality and ignorance, he learns to survive.

Mississippi Trial, 1955 Chris Crowe

In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago.

Money Hungry Sharon G. Flake

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

Monster Walter Dean Myers

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

The Monument Gary Paulsen

Thirteen-year-old Rocky, self-conscious about the braces on her leg, has her life changed by the remarkable artist who comes to her small Kansas town to design a war memorial.

The Moonlight Man Paula Fox

Fifteen-year-old Catherine and her father take their first joint vacation in Nova Scotia and finally get to know each other.

The Moves Make the Man Bruce Brooks

A 13-year-old Black boy and an emotionally troubled white boy in North Carolina form a precarious friendship.

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones Ann Head

Two teenagers must leave high school to meet the challenges of marriage and parenthood.

My Brother Sam is Dead James and Christopher Collier

Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral.

My Crooked Family James Lincoln Collier

Living with irresponsible parents in a seedy part of a big city in 1910, thirteen-year-old Roger falls in with a gang of murderous burglars and discovers an unpleasant secret about his father.

My Darling, My Hamburger Paul Zindel

Four high school seniors struggle with the responsibilities of growing up, particularly the problems of an intimate relationship.

My Father, the Nutcase Judith Caseley

When her father becomes clinically depressed, fifteen-year-old Zoe worries that his illness will engulf the entire family.

My Father's Scar Michael Cart

As he enters into his first relationships as a gay man, a college freshman recalls the aching loneliness of life with his alcoholic physically abusive father in a community prejudiced against homosexuals.

My Heartbeat Garrett Freymann-Weyr

As she tries to understand the closeness between her older brother and his best friend, fourteen-year-old Ellen finds her relationship with each of them changing.

Necking with Louise Rick Book

Depicts key events in the life of Eric Anderson, a Saskatchewan farm boy, in 1964 and 1965, the year he turns sixteen.

Night Kites M.E. Kerr

Seventeen-year-old Erick's comfortable and well-ordered life begins to fall apart when he is forced to keep two secrets: the identity of his new girlfriend and the nature of his brother's debilitating disease.

No Condition is Permanent Christina Kessler

When shy fourteen-year-old Jodie accompanies her anthropologist mother to live in Sierra Leone, she befriends a local girl but encounters a cultural divide that cannot be crossed.

No Laughter Here Rita Williams-Garcia

In Queens, New York, ten-year-old Akilah is determined to find out why her closest friend, Victoria, is silent and withdrawn after returning from a trip to her homeland, Nigeria.

Nobody Else Has to Know Ingrid Tomey

Fifteen-year-old Webber must either live with guilt or tell the truth about who was driving his grandfather's car when it struck and seriously injured a little girl.

November Ever After Laura Torres

In the aftermath of her mother's death, sixteen-year-old Amy finds solace in the company of her best friend Sara, but then she is shocked to discover that Sara is romantically involved with another girl and has kept it a secret from her.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Lurlene McDaniel

Carrie Blake, whose leukemia is in remission and whose parents are divorced, turns to her friendship with Keith for support until his own illness worsens.

The Obsession (The Power, Book 8) Jesse Harris

McKenzie Gold's friendship with Sharon Roderick, the new girl in town, turns deadly when Sharon starts to abuse McKenzie's psychic powers.

On Fire Ouida Sebestyen

Involved in a dangerous strike in a frontier mining town in 1911, twelve-year-old Sammy finds his feelings changing toward the older brother he has always idolized.

One Bird Kyoko Mori

After her mother leaves the family, fifteen-year-old Megumi tries to understand her father's need for his mistress while dealing with her own aching isolation.

One Fat Summer Robert Lipsyte

An overweight fourteen-year-old boy experiences a turning-point summer in which he learns to stand up for himself.

Out of Control Norma Fox Mazer

After joining his two best friends ina spontaneous attack on a girl at their school, sixteen-year-old Rollo finds that his life is changed forever.

Out of the Dust Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fourteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

The Outsiders S.E. Hinton

Three brothers struggle to stay together after their parents' death, as they search for an identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society in which they find themselves "outsiders."

Overnight Sensation Scott Johnson

Having acquired a new image over the summer and been accepted by the in crowd at school, seventeen-year-old Kerry finds herself being led into trouble and away from her real values.

Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball Paul Zindel

Two alienated teenagers learn to cope with their personal problems by being honest with each other.

Past Forgiving Gloria D. Miklowitz

Fifteen-year-old Alexandra finds that her boyfriend Cliff demands all her time, isolates her by his jealousy, and finally becomes physically abusive.

Peeling the Onion Wendy Orr

Following an automobile accident in which her neck is broken, a teenage karate champion begins a long and painful recovery with the help of her family.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky

A series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the coming-of-age trials of a high-schooler named Charlie.

Permanent Connections Sue Ellen Bridgers

Forced to spend a semester in his father's small hometown up in the mountains, seventeen-year-old Rob finds his feelings of alienation and self-hatred diminishing as he forges relationships with relatives and new friends.

Peter Kate Walker

An ordinary fifteen-year-old Australian kid, who enjoys riding his dirt bike and wants to be a photographer, becomes confused about his sexuality when he finds he is attracted to a gay friend of his older brother.

Phoenix Rising: Or How to Survive Your Life Cynthia D. Grant

Helen's death at eighteen from cancer shatters the lives of her parents and siblings, especially younger sister Jessie who tries to cope with her feelings of pain and confusion by reading pages from Helen's diary.

The Pigeon Jay Bennett

Responding to his former girlfriend's plea for help, 17-year-old Brian goes to her Greenwich Village apartment only to find her dead and himself framed for her murder. He vows to findher killers and the reason for her death.

The Pigman Paul Zindel

A teenage boy and girl, high school sophomores from unhappy homes, tell of their bizarre relationship with an old man.

Prank Kathryn Lasky

Birdie Flynn, a gifted Irish Catholic teenager living in East Boston, struggles with the consequences of her brother's part in vandalizing a synagogue.

Prep Jake Coburn

One-time tag-artist, Nick tries to come to terms with the death of a friend, to protect the brother of his would-be girlfriend, to escape the violence of wealthy New York City prep school hoods, and to figure out who he really is.

Princess Ashley Richard Peck

In her new high school, where her mother has taken a job as counselor, Chelsea experiences joys and sorrows as she makes choices about new friends and learns they are not always what they seem.

The Rag and Bone Shop Robert Cormier

Trent, an ace interrogator from Vermont, works to procure a confession from an introverted twelve-year-old accused of murdering his seven-year-old friend in Monument, Massachusetts.

The Raging Quiet Sherryl Jordan

Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.

Rainbow Boys Alex Sanchez

Three high school seniors, a jock with a girlfriend and an alcoholic father, a closeted gay, and a flamboyant gay rights advocate, struggle with family issues, gay bashers, first sex, and conflicting feelings about each other.

Rats Saw God Rob Thomas

Steve, a high school senior, has only one hope of graduating on time--writing a 100-page paper.

Ready? (Love Trilogy No. 1) Kate Cann

Intrigued by a gorgeous boy she sees at the swimming pool, sixteeen-year-old Coll begins a relationship with him and is dismayed to find him both more experienced and more forceful than she is.

Remembering Mog Colby Rodowsky

Annie Fitzhugh, about to graduate high school, struggles to live without her murdered sister and yet remember her.

Remembering the Good Times Richard Peck

Trav, Kate, and Buck make up a trio during their first year in high school, but their special friendship may not be enough to save Trav as he pressures himself relentlessly to succeed, in his own eyes as well as in the eyes of his parents and the world.

Rescue! An African Adventure Victor Kelleher

After freeing two ailing baboons from a research station in Africa, David and Jess are unexpectedly caught up in a struggle for survival in the bush.

Revolting Rhymes Roald Dahl

Humorous retellings in verse of six well-known fairy tales featuring surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after.

Ripples William Hazelgrove

A coming-of-age novel in which the "two main characters, Brenton and Christian, grapple with the boundaries of friendship, the responsibilities of relationships, and the meaning of what it is to be one's own man" --LJ.

Road to Memphis Mildred D. Taylor

Sadistically teased by two White boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a Black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.

Robodad Alden Carter

Fourteen-year-old Shar struggles to live a normal life as her father's mental instability, caused by an aneurysm of the brain, makes him more and more difficult as a family member.

Romiette and Julio Sharon Draper

An African-American girl and a Latino boy fall in love after meeting on the Internet, but they are harrassed by a gang who objects to their interracial dating.

Rooster Beth Nixon Weaver

On a small Florida orange grove in the 1960s, fourteen-year-old Kady Palmer is burdened with housework and caring for her senile grandmother and mentally handicapped neighbor, so when a rich, handsome boy from school becomes interested in her she devises a plan to spend time with him.

The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold Francesca Lia Block

Nine fairy tales are turned "inside out".

Rundown Michael Cadnum

A sixteen-year-old girl who is desperate for attention fakes an attack by a rapist which gains her a lot of sympathy but produces pangs of guilt.

Run, Shelley, Run Gertrude Samuels

Sixteen-year-old Shelley runs from and alcoholic mother, intolerable training schools, and bizarre situations, searching for a place to live in dignity.

Running Loose Chris Crutcher

Louie, a high school senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death as he matures into manhood.

The Sacred Circle of the Hula Hoop Kathy Kennedy Tapp

In the early 1960's, thirteen-year-old Robin tries, in a variety of ways, to unravel the mystery behind her older sister's dramatic change of personality and attempted suicide.

Sarny: A Life Remembered Gary Paulsen

Continues the adventures of Sarny, the slave girl Nightjohn taught to read, through the aftermath of the Civil War during which time she taught other Blacks and lived a full life until age ninety-four.

Satellite Down Rob Thomas

Selected to be an anchor on "Classroom Direct", seventeen-year-old Patrick Sheridan finds his journalistic idealism and his own self-image challenged when he leaves high school in Doggett, Texas, for the glamorous life in Los Angeles.

Saturnalia Paul Fleischman

In 1681 in Boston, fourteen-year-old William, a Narraganset Indian captured in a raid six years earlier, leads a productive and contented life as a printer's apprentice but is increasingly anxious to make some connection with his Indian past.

Saying It Out Loud Joan Abelove

With the help of her best friend, sixteen-year-old Mindy sorts through her relationships with her solicitous mother and her detached father as she tries to come to terms with the fact that her mother is dying from a brain tumor.

Second Helpings Megan McCafferty

"As the time to graduation ticks down, Jessica discovers she knows less about Bridget, Marcus, and the other people who surround her than she thought she did." -- BL

Second Summer of the Sisterhood Ann Brashares

When teenager Carmen and her three friends discover that a pair of worn jeans from a thrift shop provides an uncanny fit for all four of them, they decide to form a sisterhood, with the pants as the symbolic bond of friendship among them, and embark on asweet-sixteen summer.

Secrets Not Meant to be Kept Gloria D. Miklowitz

Her three-year-old sister's changing behavior unleashes many long-suppressed disturbing memories from Adrienne's own days at a highly respected local preschool.

Send Me Down a Miracle Han Nolan

A sleepy, God-fearing southern town erupts in chaos when a flamboyant artist from New York City returns to her birthplace for an artistic experiment.

Seventeen Against the Dealer Cynthia Voigt

Dicey struggles to make a go of a boatbuilding business while facing family concerns, romantic problems, and the uncertainties of a drifter who offers to help her in her work.

Sex (Love Trilogy, No. 2) Kate Cann

Having finally given in and had sex with her boyfriend, sixteen-year-old Coll finds that the decision has drastically changed their relationship.

Sex Education Jenny Davis

As a project for an unusually open class in sex education, Livvie and her boyfriend David learn to care for a pregnant young neighbor, and as they become deeply involved with her and with each other, they learn about love and caring and eventually about pain and courage.

Shade's Children Garth Nix

In a city of the future, nonhuman creatures keep children until the age of fourteen, at which time their brains are harvested.

The Shadow Brothers A. E. Cannon

High school junior Marcus feels his entire world changing around him as Henry, the Navajo foster brother who has lived with him since the age of seven, starts to change his personality and wonder if he should return to his family's reservation in another state.

Shadow Club Neil Shusterman

A junior high school boy and his friends decide to form a club of "second bests" and play anonymous tricks on each other's arch rivals. When the harmless pranks become life-threatening, however, no one in the club will admit responsibility.

Shadow Man Cynthia Grant

Charming but reckless eighteen-year-old Gabe, drunk as usual, smashes his truck into a tree and dies, sending waves of shock and grief through his small town.

Shadow People Joyce McDonald

When his family moves to a secluded area in western New Jersey after his brother is murdered, Gabriel finds himself involved with three other teenagers, each with his or her own problems, in a series of increasingly violent acts.

Shattering Glass Gail Giles

When Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, turns the school nerd into Prince Charming, his actions lead to unexpected violence.

Sheila's Dying Alden R. Carter

Just as high school junior Jerry Kincaid is considering breaking up with his girlfriend, he discovers that she has a terminal case of cancer.

Shiva's Fire Suzanne Fisher Staples

In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.

Silent to the Bone E.L. Konigsburg

When he is wrongly accused of gravely injuring his baby half-sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell loses his power of speech and only his friend Connor is able to reach him and uncover the truth about what really happened.

Silver Norma Fox Mazer

Despite their different backgrounds, Sarabeth, a teenager living with her mother in a trailer and transferring to a new school, makes friends with Grant and her affluent friends, including troubled Patty who shares a painful secret about her uncle.

The Silver Kiss Annette Curtis Klause

A mysterious teenage boy harboring a dark secret helps Zoe come to terms with her mother's terminal illness.

Simon Pure Julia Thompson

A fifteen-year-old college frosh finds true love, gets over his first hangover, and uncovers a plot to overthrow the school administration.

Singing the Dogstar Blues Alison Goodman

In a future Australia, the saucy eighteen-year-old daughter of a famous newscaster and a sperm donor teams up with a hermaphrodite from the planet Choria in a time travel adventure that may significantly change both of their lives.

Singularity William Sleator

Sixteen-year-old twins Harry and Barry stumble across a gateway to another universe, where a distortion in time and space causes a dramatic change in their competitive relationship.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Ann Brashares

Four best girlfriends spend the biggest summer of their lives enchanted by a magical pair of pants.

Six Pack and a Fake ID Daniel Cohen

Discusses the role of drinking in our society, the various reasons people drink, the physiological effects of alcoholic beverages, popular misconceptions about alcohol, the differences between drunkenness and alcoholism, and other aspects of the issue about which teenagers need to make an informed decision.

Slam! Walter Dean Myers

Seventeen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

Slap Your Sides M.E. Kerr

Life in their Pennsylvania hometown changes for Jubal Shoemaker and his family when his older brother witnesses to his Quaker beliefs by becoming a conscientious objector during World War II.

Slave Day Rob Thomas

Relates the events of a southern high school's "Slave Day" auction and fund raiser, which leads students, teachers, and even community members to rethink their approaches to their lives.

Sleeping Dogs Sonya Hartnett

The misantrhopic, sadistic father of five children, ages 12 to 25, Griffin Willow runs a trailer park on his dilapidated farm in rural Australia. Isolated from all outside influences, even the neighboring small town, the Willow family has created its own oppressive, sheltered, and decaying world.

Sloppy Firsts Megan McCafferty

Devastated when her best friend moves away, sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling feels isolated at school and at home, as she struggles to deal with her father's obsession with her track meets, her boy-crazy peers, and her own nonexistent love life.

Slot Machine Chris Lynch

When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul's Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.

Slumber Party Christopher Pike

When a ski weekend reunites a group of teenage girls eight years after a fire at a slumber party disfigured one of them and killed her sister, new fire-related accidents suggest that one of them may have been responsible.

Smack Melvin Burgess

In many different voices, from the addicts to the people around them, this book tells the story of a group of young people addicted to drugs.

Someone Like You Sarah Dessen

Halley's junior year of high school includes the death of the boyfriend of her best friend Scarlett, the discovery that Scarlett is pregnant, and Halley's own first serious relationship.

Soul Daddy Jacqueline Roy

Life for fifteen-year-old Hannah, her twin sister Rosie, and their White mother changes drastically when her father, a Black reggae star, and his daughter by a second marriage move into their home in a London suburb.

Speak Laurie Anderson

A traumatic event in the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year of high school.

Spellbound Janet McDonald

Raven, a teenage mother and high school dropout living in a housing project, decides, with the help and sometime interference of her best friend Aisha, to study for a spelling bee which could lead to a college preparatory program and four-year scholarship.

The Spirit House William Sleator

Fifteen-year-old Julie investigates the suspicious behavior of the Thai exchange student staying with her family and comes to believe in the wish-granting power of a spirit that appears to have followed him across the ocean.

Squashed Joan Bauer

As a sixteen-year-old pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.

Star Split Kathryn Lasky

In 3038, thirteen-year-old Darci uncovers an underground movement to save the human race from genetic enhancement technology.

Stargirl Jerry Spinelli

In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Chris Crutcher

The daily class discussions about the nature of human-kind, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.

Steffie Can't Come Out to Play Fran Arrick

Fourteen-year-old Stephanie runs away from her dreary industrial Pennsylvania town to be a model in New York. Instead she meets an expensively-dressed man who puts her to work for him.

Stotan! Chris Crutcher

A high school coach invites members of his swimming team to a memorable week of rigorous training that tests their moral fiber as well as their physical stamina.

Stranger with My Face Lois Duncan

A seventeen-year-old senses she is being spied on and probably impersonated, but when she discovers what actually is occurring, it is more unbelievable than she ever imagined.

Strays Like Us Richard Peck

When her drug-addict mother can no longer care for her, twelve-year-old Molly comes to stay with her great-aunt and slowly begins to realize that others in the small town also feel like they don't belong.

Stuck in Neutral Terry Trueman

Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman

As the boundaries betweens worlds begin to dissolve, Lyra and her daemon help Will Parry in his search for his father and for a powerful, magical knife.

Summer of Fear Lois Duncan

Soon after the arrival of cousin Julia, insidious occurrences begin that convince Rachel she is a witch and must be stopped before her total monstrous plan can be effected.

Summer of My German Soldier Bette Greene

Sheltering an escaped prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a twelve-year-old girl in Arkansas.

Summer Rules Robert Lipsyte

A teenage boy has to deal with an unwanted camp job, his first love and some crucial decisions.

Sweet Bells Jangled Out of Tune Robin Brancato

Fifteen-year-old Ellen wants to do something to help her dead father's mother, an eccentric old lady she has been forbidden ever to speak to or visit.

Taking It Michael Cadnum

Seventeen-year-old Anna Charles, who has turned shoplifting into an art form and a way to vent frustration, feels her confidence crumbling when she begins finding things she does not remember stealing.

Tall, thin, and Blonde Dylan Sheldon

During her first year in high school, Jenny finds out what true friends are when her best friend deserts her for the sake of belonging to a clique of pretty and popular girls.

Taming the Star Runner S.E. Hinton

Sent to live with his uncle after a violent confrontation with his stepfather, sixteen-year-old Travis, an aspiring writer, finds life in a small Oklahoma town confining until he meets an eighteen-year-old horse trainer named Casey.

Tangerine Edward Bloor

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Target Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson

After being brutally raped, Grady finally goes to a new high school where he meets an outgoing African American and several other students who try to help him deal with the horrible secret that is robbing him of his life.

Tears of a Tiger Sharon M. Draper

The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the lives of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school.

Tell Me Everything Carolyn Coman

After her mother dies in a rescue mission on a snowy mountain, twelve-year-old Roz wonders if talking to God, and to the boy for whom her mother died, can help her understand what happened.

Tell Us Your Secret Barbara Cohen

A group of aspiring teenage authors attend a two week writers conference where they not only learn about each other but begin to reveal their secret selves.

Tender Valerie Hobbs

After her beloved Gran dies, fifteen-year-old Liv goes to California to live with the father she has never known and must adjust to his gruff ways and his life as an abalone diver, so different from her life in New York City.

Tenderness Robert Cormier

A psychological thriller told from the points of view of a teenage serial killer and the runaway girl who falls in love with him.

The Terrorist Caroline B. Cooney

Sixteen-year-old Laura, an American living in London, tries to find the person responsible for the death of her younger brother Billy, who has been killed by a terrorist bomb.

That Summer Sarah Dessen

During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past.

This Lullaby Sarah Dessen

Raised by a mother who's had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.

Those Other People Alice Childress

Bigotry surfaces at Minitown High when a popular male teacher sexually assaults a delinquent fifteen-year-old girl and the only witnesses are a Black boy and a gay student teacher

Three Clams and an Oyster Randy Powell

During their humorous search to find a fourth player for their flag football team, three high school juniors are forced to examine their long friendship, their individual flaws, and their inability to try new experiences.

Tiger Eyes Judy Blume

Resettled in Los Alamos, New Mexico with her mother and brother, Davey Wexler recovers from the shock of her father's death during a holdup of his 7-Eleven store in Atlantic City.

The Tiger Orchard Joyce Sweeney

Zack has always felt like an outsider in his family but doesn't quite know why until he begins having nightmares which reach back for long-hidden childhood memories.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright Ron Koertge

Worried that his mother will send his beloved grandfather to a nursing home "for his own good," Jesse and some of his eighth-grade classmates accompany Pappy into the mountains near their small California town to look for the tiger tracks he claims to have seen.

Tomorrow Wendy Shelley Stoehr

Seventeen-year-old Cary seems to have it all -- gorgeous body, cool boyfriend, wealthy family, and a great sense of style, but she also has a serious problem.

Toughing It Nancy Springer

Sixteen-year-old Shawn must deal with his loss and anger after witnessing his older brother's murder.

The Traitor (Golden Mountain Chronicles) Laurence Yep

In 1885, a lonely illegitimate American boy and a lonely Chinese American boy develop an unlikely friendship in the midst of prejudices and racial tension in their coal mining town of Rock Springs, Wyoming.

The Trouble with Liberty Kristin Butcher

Liberty, the new girl in school whom many befriend, makes an accusation against a teacher that keeps her fellow classmates wondering about her honesty.

Troubling a Star Madeline L'Engle

As she tries to stay alive after being left on an iceberg in the Antarctic, sixteen-year-old Vicky recalls the series of events that brought her to the bottom of the world and involved her in a dangerous mystery.

True Believer Virginia Euwer Wolff

Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.

True Confessions of a Heartless Girl Martha Brooks

A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.

The True Meaning of Cleavage Mariah Fredericks

When Jess and Sari, best friends since seventh grade, begin their freshman year of high school and Sari becomes obsessed with a senior boy, Jess wonders if their friendship will survive.

The Truth about Forever Sarah Dessen

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

The Truth Trap Frances A. Miller

Following the death of their parents in an automobile accident, 15-year-old Matthew and his younger, deaf sister run away to Los Angeles where he becomes the only suspect in her brutal beating and murder.

Trying Hard to Hear You Sandra Scoppetone

A close-knit summer theater group learns that two of its members are gay.

Tunnel Vision Fran Arrick

After 15-year-old Anthony hangs himself, his family, friends, girlfriend, and a teacher must deal with their feelings of guilt and bewilderment.

Twelve days in August Liza Ketchum Murrow

Twelve days in August change a sixteen-year-old soccer player's perceptions of himself, his family, girls, and gays.

Twist of Gold Michael Morpurgo

With only the mythical luck of a golden torc, the necklace of their ancestors, to protect them, Sean and Annie O'Brien leave famine-stricken Ireland to search for their father in a strange land called America.

Unfinished Portrait of Jessica Richard Peck

A trip to Mexico to visit the divorced vagabond father whom she idolizes cures fourteen-year-old Jessica of certain illusions and helps her reconstruct her relationship with her mother.

Until Whatever Martha Humphreys

Seventeen-year-old Karen persists in renewing an old friendship with her classmate Connie when Connie comes down with AIDS, despite pressure from other students, her mother, and her best friends.

Up Country Alden R. Carter

When his mother's drinking problem causes him to spend several months with country relatives in upstate Wisconsin, sixteen-year-old Carl begins to build a new life for himself, only to see it threatened by a serious mistake from his painful past.

Up in Seth's Room: a Love Story Norma Fox Mazer

A 15-year-old's first love is bittersweet as she defies her parents and tries to assert her sexual values.

Violet and Clare Francesca Lia Block

In search of material for a screenplay they are developing, seventeen-year-old Violet and her new friend Claire try to make life a movie as they chase their dreams through dangerously beautiful Los Angeles.

Waiting for Christopher Louise Hawes

Shortly after moving with her mother to Florida, a lonely, fourteen-year-old bibliophile is reminded of her infant brother who died and decides to care for an abused, abandoned child with help from a new friend.

Wannabe Shelley Stoehr

Catherine's dream of someday moving beyond her life in Little Italy is jeopardized by her older brother's ambition to join the local mobsters and her own involvement with some unsavory characters, leading them both into using cocaine.

War Between the Pitiful Teacher and the Splendid Kids Stanley Kiesel

After years of persecution school children led by Skinny Malinky finally declare war on their teachers and the system they represent.

The War of Jenkins' Ear Michael Morpurgo

Toby Jenkins' friendship with an unusual new boy who claims to be Jesus makes life at boarding school somewhat more tolerable, even when conflict arises between the students and the boys from town.

The War Within: a Novel of the Civil War Carol Matas

In 1862, after Union forces expel Hannah's family from Holly Springs, Mississippi, because they are Jews, Hannah reexamines her views regarding slavery and the war.

Wart, Son of Toad Alden R. Carter

Sixteen-year-old Steve's adjustment to high school is made more difficult by the unpopularity of his strict father, a biology teacher known as Toad.

The Watcher James Howe

As she sits watching a seemingly perfect family and a handsome lifeguard on the beach, a lonely, troubled girl projects herself into the fantasy lives she has created for them.

A Way of Love, Way of Life : A Young Person's Introduction to What it Means to Be Gay Frances Hanckel and John Cunningham

Discusses how to tell if you're gay, how to meet gay people, relationships with families and friends, and the legal position of gays. Profiles the lives of 12 gay people.

We all Fall Down Robert Cormier

As The Avenger searches for the teenage boys who trashed a house in his neighborhood , Buddy one of the trashers, increases his drinking in order to cope with his parents' separation and his obsession with the daughter of the owner of the vandalized house.

Weeping Willow Ruth White

Despite all the problems she faces at home, Tiny Lambert's experiences at Virginia's Black Gap High School help her begin to feel good about herself--until the day that she is raped by her stepfather.

Weetzie Bat Francesca Lia Block

Follows the wild adventures of Weetzie Bat and her Los Angeles punk friends, Dirk, Duck-Man, and Secret-Agent-Lover-Man.

Weird on the Outside Shelley Stoehr

Deciding that she cannot stand to live with either of her estranged parents, teenage Tracey flees to New York City and finds work as a topless dancer in a series of sleazy bars.

Whale Talk Chris Cutcher

Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

What About Grandma? Hadley Irwin

Caught between her grandmother's fierce independence and her mother's solution of a nursing home, Rhys grows up during a summer while experiencing her first love.

What Became of Her M.E. Kerr

Edgar Tobbit meets Neal Kraft at a group session arranged by their psychotherapist and their friendship ends up thwarting the plans of an eccentric widow to get revenge on the town where she was mistreated as a young girl.

What Happened to Lani Garver Carol Plum-Ucci

Sixteen-year-old Claire is unable to face her fears about a recurrence of her leukemia, her eating disorder, her need to fit in with the popular crowd on Hackett Island, and her mother's alcoholism until the enigmatic Lani Garver helps her get control of her life at the risk of his own.

What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls : A Growing Up Guide for Parents and Daughters Lynda Madaras

Discusses the changes that take place in a girl's body during puberty, including information on the body's changing size and shape, pubic hair, breasts, the reproductive organs, the menstrual cycle, and puberty in boys.

What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys : A Growing Up Guide for Parents and Sons Lynda Madaras

Discusses the changes that take place in a boy's body during puberty, including information on the body's changing size and shape, the growth spurt, reproductive organs, pubic hair, beards, pimples, voice changes, wet dreams, and puberty in girls.

When Heroes Die Penny Raife Durant

Devastated that his hero uncle, Rob, is dying of AIDS, twelve-year-old Gary, in need of advice and guidance in his life, draws strength from Rob himself.

When Jeff Comes Home Catherine Atkins

Sixteen-year-old Jeff, returning home after having been kidnapped and held prisoner for three years, must face his family, friends, and school and the widespread assumption that he engaged in sexual activity with his kidnapper.

When She Hollers Cynthia Voigt

Tish, a teenager who has been enduring abuse from her adoptive stepfather since she was a small child, finally decides she must do something to stop him.

When the Phone Rang Harry Mazer

When their parents are killed in an airplane crash, three siblings try to keep the family together in the face of overwhelming personal and financial problems.

Where it Stops, Nobody Knows Amy Ehlich

Nina and her mother move from place to place, never revealing anything of themselves, and causing Nina to wonder if they will ever stop hiding.

Whirligig Paul Fleischman

While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirligig in memory of the girl whose death he caused, sixteen-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.

The White Horse Cynthia D. Grant

In her writing for a concerned teacher, sixteen-year-old Raina reveals her troubles with a disfunctional family, life on the streets, drug abuse, and finally an unplanned pregnancy.

White Lilacs Carolyn Meyer

In 1921 in Dillon, Texas, twelve-year-old Rose Lee sees trouble threatening her Black community when the Whites decide to take the land there for a park and forcibly relocate the Black families to an ugly stretch of territory outside the town.

The White Mercedes Philip Pullman

Seventeen-year-old Chris, living and working in Oxford, falls in love with an elusive girl and while searching for her discovers the devastating consequences of placing his trust in the wrong person.

A White Romance Virginia Hamilton

As her all-Black high school becomes more racially mixed, Tally befriends a White girl who shares her passion for running and becomes romantically involved with a drug dealer.

Who Will Tell My Brother? Marlene Carvell

During his lonely crusade to remove offensive mascots from his high school, a Native American teenager learns more about his heritage, his ancestors, and his place in the world.

Winning Robin Brancato

"Superjock" senior Gary Madden, hero of the football team with prospects as limitless as his own imagination, finds himself the victim of a freak accident that's left him completely paralyzed.

Witch Baby Francesca Lia Block

Witch Baby comes to live with Weetzie Bat and My-Secret-Agent-Lover-Man and has wild adventures in Los Angeles as she tries to understand where she belongs.

Witches (The Weird and Horrible Library) Nancy Garden

Traces the history of witchcraft throughout the world from ancient times to the present.

With Every Drop of Blood James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Fourteen-year-old Johnny is on a bold mission to supply the Rebel troops with his family's mules and wagon when he is captured by a Yankee--Cush, a runaway slave.

Witness Karen Hesse

A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Wolf Rider Avi

After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed murder, fifteen-year-old Andy finds his close relationship with his father crumbling as he struggles to make everyone believe him.

Words by Heart Ouida Sebestyen

A young black girl struggles to fulfill her papa's dream of a better future for their family in the southwestern town where, in 1910, they are the only blacks.

Year of the Gopher Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

In his senior year of high school, seventeen-year-old George begins to seriously question his parents' plans and assumptions about his future and decides to try to find his own way.

Year of the Griffin Diana Wynne Jones

When Elda, the griffin daughter of the great Wizard Derk, arrives for schooling at the Wizards' University, she encounters new friends, pirates, assassins, worry, sabotage, bloodshed, and magic misused.

The Year They Burned the Books Nancy Garden

While trying to come to terms with her lesbianism, a high school senior finds herself in the middle of a battle with a group of townspeople over the new health education curriculum.

The Year Without Michael Susan Beth Pfeffer

The changes sixteen-year-old Jody's parents, sister, and herself go through over a year's time are seen through Jody's eyes as they try to cope with her fourteen-year-old brother's disappearance.

You Don't Know Me David Klass

Fourteen-year-old John creates alternative realities in his mind as he tries to deal with his mother's abusive boyfriend, his crush on a beautiful, but shallow classmate and other problems at school.

Zazoo Richard Mosher

Amid old secrets revealed and rifts healed, a thirteen-year-old Vietnamese orphan raised in rural France by her aging "Grand-Pierre" learns about life, death, and love.

Zero at the Bone Michael Cadnum

When eighteen-year-old Anita fails to return home from work, her parents and younger brother try to understand and cope with her disappearance.


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Last updated: Wednesday, 27-Aug-2008 14:53:24 CDT /jh